PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY MAKEISHA JOHNSON - The body of 14-year-old Pauviera Linson, who died of an apparent drug overdose, was discovered in her bedroom on Monday in the 200 block of Charles Avenue in St. Paul. This is a school portrait of Pauviera when she was 11 years old. (Pioneer Press: Richard Marshall)

Robert Kibble. Courtesy Ramsey County sheriff's office.

Jacob Sawyer. Courtesy Ramsey County sheriff's office.

12-year-old Gerlaya Phillips, center, prays alongside her 18-year-old brother Gerald Phillips, left, and aunt Nancia Range, right, while talking about her sister, 14-year-old Pauviera Linson, outside Linson's home in the 200 block of Charles Avenue in St. Paul on Wednesday August 8, 2012. Pauviera's body was dicovered in her bedroom Monday morning, after she attended a party on Sunday night. (Pioneer Press: Richard Marshall)

The mother of the 14-year-old girl found dead Monday in St. Paul, after two men allegedly gave her alcohol and a mixed drink of codeine cough syrup and Sprite, wants to prevent the same fate from befalling anyone else.

“What I want to leave young girls with, or any of these kids out here that’s just doing things to maybe try to fit in … if you’re feeling sick and you’re scared that an adult’s going to find out, or you just don’t want to get in trouble, just tell them, just tell,” Makiesha Johnson said Wednesday, Aug. 8.

“And be honest with your parents. Be open.”

Johnson said her daughter, Pauviera Linson, was a good girl, smart and a leader. But her mother wondered if she had succumbed to peer pressure Sunday when the men allegedly gave her drugs and alcohol.

“This is out of her character,” Johnson said. “Pauviera was always on guard. I talked to her about the facts of life early on. She knew right from wrong. This wasn’t in her character to take anything from anybody.”

Pauviera’s 17-year-old friend, whom the men also allegedly gave drugs and alcohol, was hospitalized Monday for a possible overdose. The girl, who was not named by police, was released from the hospital Wednesday, said Sgt. Paul Paulos, St. Paul police spokesman.

The cause of Pauviera’s death remained under investigation, pending toxicology results, police said.

Three men had picked up the teenager, her 12-year-old cousin Gerlaya Phillips and the 17-year-old friend Sunday, sometime around 2 or 3 p.m. and drove them to a party at a Burnsville townhouse, Gerlaya said.

Police said the two older girls were given alcohol, marijuana and a drink called “lean,” a mixture of codeine and Sprite. Gerlaya said she did not partake and remained sober.

She and Pauviera’s family said it was important to them to set the record straight that the gathering was not a party, but a small group of people hanging out.

Police said Sawyer and Kibble drank and smoked marijuana with the two girls, and that they were not seeking other suspects.

The Ramsey County attorney’s office was reviewing possible charges against the men.

In Minnesota, third-degree murder is considered causing a death without intent by “directly or indirectly, unlawfully selling, giving away, bartering, delivering, exchanging, distributing or administering a controlled substance,” according to state statute.

Sawyer, of St. Paul, was the only one of the men whom Pauviera knew, and he was a friend she texted with, her family said.

Kibble, who police said is from Redwood Falls, Minn., told the girls that it was his birthday (he turned 25 on Sunday) and that he lived at the townhouse where he drove them, Gerlaya said. They stopped for a two-liter bottle of Sprite at a gas station on the way, she said. Gerlaya estimated seven people were at the townhouse.

Pauviera’s aunt, with whom she lived, said she texted Pauviera about 8 p.m. Sunday, telling her the girls needed to come home soon. They returned about 9 p.m. and Pauviera talked to her aunt, Nancia Range, whom she called “TT.”

“She came on my bed … and she said, ‘TT, I just need some air,’ ” Range said. “And I asked her was she OK? She said, ‘Yeah.’ She said, ‘I’m just going to go to bed.’ I asked her, I said, ‘Are you sure you’re OK?’ She said, ‘Yeah, I’m fine.’ ”

Range said that the teen didn’t appear ill. She said she wishes Pauviera had told her what was happening.

Pauviera’s eyes were red and she was falling asleep sitting up, said Gerald Phillips, Pauviera’s 18-year-old cousin. He was heading out for the night and told Pauviera and her 17-year-old friend they could sleep in his bed.

Phillips returned home Monday morning, and the girls were still in his bed. Pauviera’s friend was just waking up and trying to wake Pauviera, Phillips said.

“I just noticed something wasn’t right with my cousin, so I tried to get her up and she was cold,” Phillips said.

He said Pauviera appeared to have vomited in the bed.

Phillips called police to the home in the 200 block of Charles Avenue. about 10 a.m., and paramedics pronounced the teen dead.

Pauviera’s friend, who was vomiting, was hospitalized, Phillips said.

Johnson said the friend later told her that she and Pauviera had been standing up straight, but felt like they were leaning to the side. They felt itchy and their lips were numb, she said.

Mixing codeine cough syrup with another beverage became a drink known as “lean” for the side-effect of causing users to lose their coordination, said Carol Falkowski, Minnesota Department of Human Services drug abuse strategy officer.

“We’re talking about using prescription-strength codeine for intoxication,” Falkowski said. “Whenever you take prescription medications, it’s a risky business. Prescription painkillers are strong medications and especially when used with another depressant like alcohol can result in overdose death.”

Lean, which has various names, including “Sizzurp” and “Purple Drank,” is under the radar because people can usually drink it without being caught, said Jane Maxwell, a senior research scientist at the University of Texas School of Social Work.

The drink is believed to have been originated in Houston and was first documented there in the late 1990s, Maxwell said. Its use has been “very driven” by music, she said.

“Rap songs talk about it,” said Johnson, Pauviera’s mother. “Kids and teenagers idolize songs and idolize stars and idolize things that they do.”

Phillips said he and his friends have tried “lean” before, but because of Pauviera’s death, they have vowed, “No more.”

Lean’s attraction is hard to explain, Phillips said. He said he was aware it was dangerous, naming a rapper, Pimp C (Chad Butler), who died in California in 2008 from codeine and other factors. “I knew. I took my chances, though,” Phillips said.

Pauviera was known as Pavy (pronounced Pah-vee) or Sassy. She liked swimming, dancing, playing video games with her 6-year-old brother and listening to hip-hop and R&B. She attended ninth grade at North High School in North St. Paul last year.

The teen wanted to be a fashion designer and a lawyer, hoping to make “lawyer money to support what she really wanted to do,” Johnson said. She was feisty, and her aunt said she told her she should be a prosecutor.

“She wanted to live her life to the fullest and her life was cut short,” Range said. “We don’t understand why. Only God knows.”

Mara Gottfried has been a Pioneer Press reporter since 2001, mostly covering public safety. Gottfried lived in St. Paul as a young child and returned to the Twin Cities after graduating from the University of Maryland. You can reach her at 651-228-5262.

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